Sunlight
by Poetic Pixie
Summary: “Oh he loved her, and life was far too short now for them to belong to anyone but each other.” RHr


He knew he would always remember this moment, even when he was old and grey and the shadows would play tricks with his mind (if he lived that long, of course). She was standing nervously at the doorway, he kept wondering if she was having second thoughts. He didn't want her to do this out of some twisted loyalty or obligation; he wanted her to want this.

He thought of his reasons for doing this, tried to reach into that wellspring of love and contentment and whatever else it had been that had propelled him to ask her to do this. To ask her to marry him so that if either of them died in the following weeks like any other lowly mortal, they could claim they had something more than petty teenaged puppy love. They had both watched people they loved die; he had seen the life slip away from former classmates as they were cut down in front of him. Seen their eyes turn bleak; he'd seen them in his nightmares and he'd woken up to her screaming guilt and venom only to break down in her arms. Oh he loved her, and life was far too short now for them to belong to anyone but each other.

The early sun shone through her curls and picked out little fragments of colour, she had managed to tame it just a bit for today but all he saw was her smile and it was all that mattered.

The ceremony was surprisingly quick, consisting of a registrar, two bored witnesses, and the burden of proving their ages. There was little doubt that they were eighteen, the sad look in their eyes made others believe it. Hermione expected the looks at her belly but was more preoccupied with how tightly the groom held onto her hand, as if he were scared she would suddenly come to her senses and try to run away. She would never do that of course, it would break the poor boy's heart.

Besides, ever since that troll in first year she hadn't had much sense when it came to either of her two boys anyway.

He took her to a little ice-cream parlour when it was all done and got her a chocolate dipped cone with strawberry ice-cream. Hermione was very particular with her desserts, and he never forgot what she liked. She'd found that Ron however committed to very few things in his life, to a Qudditch team, to his friends, to her as a friend, and now she supposed as a lover. A flavour of ice-cream wasn't one of them. Today it was an odd mix of banana and mango; she graciously passed on a taste.

They feasted while walking through the forest and back to the Burrow, second nature causing them to watch for an ambush out of the corners of their eyes. Walking half a foot apart they were content to be connected by only eight entwined fingers. Hermione managed to slip on mud, dragging her newly-made husband down with her. Caked in muck and what their noses suspected was a bit of fecal matter, it was not the wedding reception either had hoped for.

But her laughter still echoed through his mind and the sun still shone down on their heads and after a while it dried the mud enough that it flaked off them like snakeskin and for the moment that was more than enough. Using a spell in what was considered a muggle area to clean them off would attract undue attention, as it was they had to worry about Molly, who would probably lecture them for sneaking out this early.

When they reached the Burrow the entire family was out doing chores, the boys employed with degnoming while the girls (and Charlie who was older and therefore was allowed to choose what he had to do) picked various fruits for Molly's preserves. With an ease that came out of much practise Ron took Hermione's hand and led her past the observant eye of Molly Weasley, who had caught her children many times with an expert eye that had gotten much more vigilant over the years.

However they just managed to get by and Ron surprised Hermione when he swept her off her feet and over the threshold. He carried her up the stairs and let her slide out of his arms, she kissed him long and sweet and he whispered a spell to get them clean before kissing her right back and everything was lost in a blur of colour and sound and there she was right in the centre of it all.


End file.
